Work with proportions: Your bridal bouquet is the most photographed accessory. It is so important to remember that your bouquet and you should work well together! We sometime forget about proportions. If you’re a petite woman, let your florist know that you would prefer a more compact, rounded floral design so it doesn’t overpower your frame. And if you’re a taller bride, try the cascading trend or ask for longer stems.

Learn your seasons: Not all flowers are available year round for your wedding date. Use in-season blooms and you’ll get the freshest flowers. But if you must, learn your look-a-likes. Find substitutes to achieve the same style. For example, garden roses often stand in for peonies, and hydrangeas and sweet peas. Ask for florist, trust your florist.

Make them personal: Infuse your bouquet with a wrap such as your grandmother’s handkerchief or attached a photo locket of late loved ones. The touch of sentiment goes a long way to making it even more memorable. Also it can serve as your something borrowed!

Have any thing else you wish you knew before choosing your blooms? Let us know in the comments below!

Toss your toss bouquet at the reception. But keep your bridal bouquet…for forever! The whole process of flower preservation is nothing new but we wanted to share with you our tips and advice. There are plenty of ways to re-purpose your flowers but we think they make great works of art if dried correctly and stored in a shadowbox or frame.

Air Drying is the process of hanging up your flowers to dry naturally. Air dried flowers will lose their original shape and in some instances will turn very dark or sometimes even black. If done incorrectly they can mold or rot a few days after the wedding. That’s no fun! While roses can be air dried, lilies and orchids cannot be air dried. Hanging the flowers upside helps the flowers from wilting downward with gravity, instead they will wilt upwards to keep some of it’s shape.

Flower Pressing is, you guessed it, pressed and preserved between pages. There are flower pressing companies that will create beautiful framed art using flower presses. Framed pressed flowers are flat and allow the use of flat picture frames and other types of flat displays for decorating in your home. If you do not like the look of three dimensional flowers, then you should consider this drying method.

Freeze Drying is the latest technology for wedding bouquet preservation. Orchids, lilies, and all varieties of flowers can be freeze-dried with near perfect, life like results. Your flowers will keep most of their size, shape, and color throughout the drying process. Unfortunately you cannot do this at home without having an expensive vacuum freeze drying machine. Professional freeze drying of your wedding bouquet will cost more than the other drying methods, but if you would like to save your wedding day blooms using the best drying method, then have your bouquet freeze dried.

Don’t forgot you can also decorate your shadow box by including your invitations or even cake topper! What do you think about flower persevering, will you do it?

We just love it when our beautiful brides tell us how much they love their flowers from their wedding day – even more so when they send us photos back to share as well. This beach theme, cobalt blue and coral palette was a lot of fun to create and play with. With roses and dendrobium orchids, we knew we had a great theme on our hands. Sheryl and Peter shared their magical day with about 100 guest at the La Jolla Shores Hotel and we were so honored to be a part of it as well.

Wasn’t that color palette just so fun? Let us know what you think! Thank you again Sheryl and Peter for letting us be a part of your day. We wish you two all the best!

While the main ingredients of any cake are eggs, sugar, butter, and flour – we would like to add one more – flowers! The trend is not new but we still thought it would be nice to showcase some of our favorites made by yours truly. Adding flowers to your cake is a versatile statement that can fit and complement the ambiance of any wedding. With the rounds of champagne glass clinking and toasting, the cutting of your cake will surely be a highlight to your reception.

There is such a large selection of combinations to choose from (and this is on top of cake tasting). But remember when choosing flowers for your cake to make sure they are edible and safe. Which one did you like? And how did you incorporate flowers into your wedding cake? Let us know in the comments!

Melody and Brandon said their vows at the rustic and charming Orange County Mining Company last year. Our beautiful bride sent photos from their wedding day to share with us so we knew we had to share with you all. We loved their colors of blue and orange!